King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 2,057 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,057 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 2.8% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 31,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the first quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schulhoff & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.6% during the first quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.82. The firm has a market cap of $55.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.35.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 79.83%.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.